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Three-star chef joins London's hottest kitchens
Benedict Moore-Bridger, Evening Standard22 Aug 2008
London's newest three Michelinstar chef today hailed the city as the "hottest restaurant scene in the world", ahead of Paris and New York.
German Dieter M¸ller joins an increasing number of top-ranked chefs in London - including Gordon Ramsay, Joel Robuchon and brothers Albert and Michel Roux - and said the capital and its diners were superior to anywhere else in the world.
M¸ller's new restaurant Andaman, based at the St James's Hotel and Club in Mayfair, officially opens next month, and will see him attempting to reinvent culinary excellence to match that of his friends Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal, of The Fat Duck in Bray.
His menu, incorporating elements of classical French cooking with Mediterranean and Asian influences, describes Marco Polo's journey from the Mediterranean to Asia, something he believes will appeal to the "open-mindedness" of the British gastronomic public.
He told the Standard: "London is the best place. It is on my hit list because the British people are so open to different experiences. London has the hottest restaurant scene in the world and it is a great challenge to move here to open a restaurant.
"It is cosmopolitan, international, it has a huge variety of food and beverage offerings and, above all, high quality of chefs like Ramsay and Robuchon.
"We are bringing new concepts to this gastronomic scene - a new philosophy of cooking and experience and style."
The newly renovated St James's Hotel and Club, in the heart of hedgefund district, is the Althoff Hotel Collection's first London venture. M¸ller has enlisted protégés Christian Rosse and Philipp Vogel to run the kitchen day-to-day.
M¸ller was first awarded three Michelin stars in 1997 for his work at Althoff 's Schlosshotel Lerbach near Koln, Germany, and has retained the honour ever since. His method of working is meticulous, well-ordered calm teamwork. It is this which he says will ensure his London venture competes with other top venues such as Claridge's and Hélène Darroze at the Connaught.
"The creation of the right atmosphere is one of the most important aspects," M¸ller said. "It is the quality, the presentation, and the aesthetic of the way everything is put together that makes it a success."
The 60-seat restaurant, which formally opens on 25 September, offers tasting menus from £55 to £82 and main courses priced at up to £32.
